A drastic new haircut is a big leap of faith for anyone, especially when you are one of the most instantly recognizable movie stars on the planet.
Anyone who has ever sung along happily to the Grease soundtrack will immediately connect John Travolta with having a shock of very thick, very dark hair.
His full barnet can be seen, styled in various ways, in some of the most iconic films of his career, including Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction. His mop is as synonymous with the Travolta brand as that chin dimple.
PAUnderstandably, there were stunned faces all round when Travolta began rocking a fully shaved head shortly after the New Year, going publicly bald with a sweet father daughter Instagram pic.
Although this Bruce Willis-esque look actually really suits him, it took people some time to get used to it, with his newly unveiled head causing quite a stir on social media.
One person tweeted:
I haven’t spoken to my mother all day and the first thing I did was go downstairs and yell to her about how I didn’t know John Travolta was bald.
Another gasped:
Bald John Travolta looks just like my ex…the chills, they’re multiplying.
Travolta’s baldness rapidly became the subject of think pieces and radio debates, his shining head a celebrity in its own right. And so it was inevitable it would be brought up during his recent interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Travolta appeared on the show alongside his strikingly similar looking daughter Ella Bleu to chat about their respective roles in upcoming thriller The Poison Rose.
You can watch the interview for yourself below:
Guest host and fellow baldy Lena Waithe – who thoroughly deserves her own talk show – quizzed Travolta about his electrifying new look:
I also feel like I can relate to you a little bit, we both did the big chop. I peeped your Instagram. How was that for you?
[…] Your hair was famous. You had a beautiful mane. You posted a picture of your bald head and it went viral.
Travolta expressed surprise at the fan fascination with his newly bared scalp, admitting this is the first time he’s gone viral since mispronouncing Idina Menzel’s name at the Oscars in 2014.
The Academy Award wining megastar also revealed how his shiny new look was inspired by none other than Pitbull:
It’s so much easier. I did a movie years ago called From Paris With Love where I shaved it, so I got used to it, and some people got used to it. So it wasn’t a total shock,
And I became friends with Pitbull… All us guys have to stick together that do this. He encouraged it, as well. And the family encouraged it.
Seriously, imagine being the person who influenced John Travolta to proudly embrace going full cue ball? What a legacy.
You can catch The Poison Wood in cinemas from May 24, 2019.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.